The Man Under the Shield

I gasped, stepping back, heart racing. Glancing back I saw the griffin was looking down the steps, its head taking up the whole entry way. I glanced back to where the man lain and the effulgent light cast a pink hue about the room. Timidly I stepped towards the man and peered inside to see the salubrious, sleeping face of Aurelius.

"Aurelius?" I whispered, reaching towards the shield. Reaching not even two inches above the shield, the energy spiked out, striking my hand, feeling like a thousand little daggers digging into my hand. "Ah!" I pulled my hand back, staring at the unmoving man before me. His hair seemed nicely combed, and his face was clean, but there, in the middle of his shirt, was the great blood stain left by a sword.

I tried everything I could think of to destroy the shield, but no matter how hard I tried the shield would not budge. As a last reserve I even tried to light the thing on fire, desperate to save the love I thought I had lost. The griffin let out a shriek as I nearly lost all feeling in my hands from beating on the shield. Looking back I saw the griffin had shoved one of its legs into the stairwell and was scratching at the stairs.

I walked back up the stairs, but the griffin was not less frantic. "Calm down, I'm coming." Once I got close enough it grabbed onto me with its beak and tossed me out of the room. I had been so distracted that I had not realized the occasional shaking of the temple, or the crashing of pillars. The griffin frantically motioned to its back with its head, signaling for me to get on. I glanced back at the stairwell, and the griffin grabbed me once more, throwing me onto its back, and took off just as the roof began to crash down. Once into the air I noticed several darkly colored dragons crashing into the temple and breathing fire against it, completely obliterating it.

"I'm sorry Aurelius." I whispered, wiping away my tears with what was left of my frayed sleeve. The griffin glanced back at me, its eyes sad, and let out a low sound of sorrow. "That's okay, you tried." I said, brushing my fingers through its feathers. "You did all you knew how." I leaned my head down, resting against the griffin's neck, and stared at the passing mist against the black ground and gray sky. Everything seemed to have lost its color here, I could only hope I still had a brother and rabbit roaming around here somewhere. "Will you help me find my family?" I asked, feeling drained of all energy, and lacking what little hope I had had before. The griffin gave a nod and let out a loud screech and flew faster across the dead land.